Melt in your mouth, toasty, buttery pecan goodness combined with a creamy white chocolate crisp center is a party on the palate! These are great for a holiday cookie exchange, if they last prior to it!

Stir together chopped pecans and ¼ cup melted butter. Spread in an even layer on a parchment lined sheet pan. Bake at 350° for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring them around once half way through. until pecans are toasted (you’ll be able to smell them). Keep checking and stirring so they don't burn. Remove from oven, and let cool. Alternatively, In a pan or skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add pecans and cook until toasted and fragrant, about 4 to 5 minutes. Spread across sheet of foil or parchment to cool.

When pecans are cool, in a medium bowl, combine with flour. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat together the 2 sticks of butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the flour-butter pecan mixture until combined. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat. Roll the dough into 1½ - inch balls and place on baking sheets..12 per sheet - about two inches apart. Refrigerate both sheets with the dough balls for 10-15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place one sheet in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and press your impeccably clean thumb into cookies to make a deep indentation (you can also use the back of ½ to ¼ measuring teaspoon), but not all the way to the bottom. Place back in the oven for 7 - 9 minutes. then remove and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with second sheet of dough balls.

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water..making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir in the hot heavy cream until uniform, then remove the bowl from the heat. Stir in the feuilletine or crushed corn flakes or crushed sugar cones, then spoon into the centers of the cooled cookies to the top, about a heaping half teaspoon per cookie. Let set and enjoy!

If you have any leftover white chocolate crunch filling, check out THIS post!

notes:

* You want a little more white chocolate to feuilletine or corn flakes so it settles into the thumbprint nicely and sticks. Start with ½ cup and add more if you think it's needed. Some white chocolate brands melt more liquid than other white chocolate brands. For example - if you use white chocolate chips, they do not melt as liquid as a good quality white chocolate bar like Valrhona, therefore, less feuilletine is needed.